Earth and Rain
by MisaFreak
Summary: When San sacrifices herself for the Realm of the Forest Spirit, can Ashitaka find her before Lord Asano takes away what is most important to her?
1. Chapter One

_Trials and Tribulations_

1

San stood on the stone roof of her mountain-top dwelling, short brown hair ruffling slightly in a gentle breeze. A strange scent caught her nose and she turned her head sideways, trying to place it with her finely developed senses, senses that were more like that of a wolf than a human.

But a human she was... San cursed her entire race. She was ashamed to be one. They cared only about material wealth, they were prepared to destroy a mountain beautiful and rich in spirits and harmony just to become wealthy. Thinking about what had happened not so long ago made San's fingers tighten. She felt the old anger course through her veins and knew her azure eyes must be aflame with rage.

She felt urgency in the air. Ah. That was the foreign scent.

Gazing down upon the valley with sharpened eyes, she spotted a small bunch of red dots moving through a clearing. Even from this distance she could tell that they were in a hurry.

But more importantly, what were they doing in here, in her forest?

San turned and ran swiftly through the trees until she reached her brother's den. The large white wolf, though still smaller than his mother had been, was dozing in the sunshine outside the den.

"Mao, Mao!" shouted San, shaking her brother. "Mao, wake up!"

"San," grumbled Mao, blinking as he opened his eyes and glared at her.

"Mao, there are strangers in our forest!" San explained quickly. "I've seen them just now from the hill. They're in the valley, coming this way!"

Mao immediately stood up and shook himself. "Go and get your brother," he ordered. "We will ambush these outsiders."

"Okay," San inclined her head and ran off to find her other brother, Maiku. He was drinking from a clear mountain stream and looked up quickly, surprised, as San flew towards him.

"Maiku, there are outsiders in our forest. We must go and help Mao," San cried.

"All right, get on," said Maiku. San leapt aboard his broad ivory back and held tight to the fur with her legs and hands as Maiku raced through the familiar trees.

What could these people mean by passing through the Realm of the Forest Spirit? Either they did not know what treachery resided here, or they were ignorants like other humans. Or... San could not help trembling at the thought... they were so strong that they could defeat two god's sons and the Princess of Wolves.

Some distance away from the intruders, San could smell them. She smelled sweat, smoke, and a strange, heady odour that made her nose burn slightly.

Maiku's pace dropped and slowedand San slipped from his back gracefully to hide behind a bulky rock. She pulled her combat mask over her face and withdrew her short dagger.

A group of men about fifteen or twenty strong came into sight, talking loudly and laughing. They wore _samurai_ armour, _kimonos_ red as strawberries, and boots made from a thick brown material tied with ropes fashioned from rice stalks.

Most of the men looked alike, with long dark hair pulled back tightly behind their heads, except for the man at the front who San supposed was their leader. He looked almost invincible. His muscles bulged clearly beneath his _kimono_ and his tread was firm and steady. His hair was a black mess of choppy strands. The man's face was fierce and serious, ever watchful.

San recognised him with a shock. Ashitaka had told her about him on one of his frequent visits to her den. He was Lord Asano, the villain who had attacked Iron Town and forced Lady Eboshi to lower her guard.

At a sign from Maiku, San leapt out at Lord Asano and swished her dagger menacingly, with a high-pitched battle cry.

"It's that little Wolf-girl!" cried one of the _samurai_.

San growled and swung her dagger at him, slicing clean through his armour and _kimono_.

The man emitted a choked cry and jumped back onto the feet of the man behind him.

"To what do we owe your passage through our mountain valley?" Mao bellowed angrily, stance fitting for combat. "Dare you disturb the Realm of the Forest Spirit?"

"This is no longer the dwelling of the Forest Spirit!" a man shouted from the back of the group, safe behind Lord Asano. "The Forest Spirit is dead and gone!"

"He will never be gone from this place. His soul shall live on in it for many hundreds of years!" Maiku barked.

"We have come to claim what has been rightfully ours for years," said Lord Asano, speaking for the first time. He placed his hands on his hips and glared up and San's brothers. "Now that the Forest Spirit has been defeated, this mountain and the land beyond are ripe for the picking."

"You will have to fight through us first, and we are unforgiving when trifled with!" shouted San from her safe perch on top of the boulder.

"Ahh... Mononoke San, Princess of Wolves?" said Lord Asano thoughtfully, stroking his beard. San hated the way he looked at her, with such impurity in his hard black eyes.

"That's right. And you're _not_ going to take away our forest!" San flared, staring down the much larger man.

Lord Asano continued his appraisal of her.

"Very well, then," Lord Asano agreed. "We will not take your forest. However, there will be a price. We will not go away empty-handed."

"Name it," said Mao steadfastly, shaking back his fur. Lord Asano smiled up at him for a moment, turned and positively grinned at San.

"We want the little Wolf-girl in exchange for the peace of this forest."


	2. Chapter Two

_Earth and Rain_

2

San shrank back, her heart pounding irregularly in her chest. What did they mean, they wanted her? Why? What did that mean?

"You cannot be serious!" howled Mao, while Maiku growled deep in his chest, threatening each and every _samurai_ before him.

"Brother, what can they mean? Where and why do they want to take me?" San cried desperately.

She was ignorant of men.

"San, it matters not. You are not going with them."

"Then we attack," stated Lord Asano.

"So be it!" roared Maiku. Quick as a flash of lightning, he and Mao leaped down upon the group of _samurai_, biting, scratching, snarling. Four or five men were already wounded sufficiently to put them out of commission.

Glaring at Lord Asano, San jumped down to do her bit, drawing the combat mask over her face again. She slashed and stabbed and wielded her dagger with every ounce of strength and agility she possessed. Lord Asano looked down at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Princess of Wolves, stay your hand," he said quietly, evading her attacks with infuriating ease. "Come with us quietly and we shall not bother your 'brothers' or this forest again. You shall live in my palace and partake of its luxury with me."

San did not like the way he smiled when he said, '_with me_', and liked it even less when he extended a large brown hand like the head of a shovel to her.

"Princess Mononoke... San," he coaxed, "I promise I could give you more than living in this wild forest, living in that cave, could ever give you. You will learn to read and write. You will be taught the arts. You will have proper clothes and money to buy whatever you wish."

San stared up at him, incredulously. All she had was in 'that cave', was here in the Realm of the Forest Spirit with her brothers. All she had was the sapphire brightness of the sky on a clear day, in the cheeky birds that fluttered around her in flashes of feather and gleaming eye, in the cheerful rustle of the trees, and in the quiet beauty of the Forest Spirit's lake. She didn't want to learn to be a human, learn to be part of the race she despised but could not escape from. She wanted to stay a wolf and live here in peace and enjoyment with her brothers.

What could Lord Asano's palace possibly offer her that would make her want to give up this beautiful, wonderful place that had raised her as much as her mother, Moro, had done?

"Why do you want me to come with you?" she challenged, oblivious to the savagery taking place around them. It was as if they had both been transported to a separate world, and no one could touch them.

"Why you, you mean? Well," the arrogant Lord thought for a moment, "I'm not particularly sure, now that I think of it. I suppose because you would have some interesting things to say, and I want to hear them. It might be because you have lived out here for - how many years?"

San cast a swift look at him. "Seventeen years, my Lord."

"You have lived out here for seventeen years and survived so excellently. I would like you to to teach my _samurai_ to fight the way you do," he turned his handsome head to the side and surveyed her critically. "You are quite a remarkable young girl, and I want to know you as your pets do." He jerked his head toward the snapping and snarling white blurs that were Maiku and Mao.

San felt a wave of rage pass through her. "_Pets?_" she cried. "They are my brothers, the only family I have left, and I am their sister! They are the only family I have ever known," she fired. "Them... and Moro, my mother."

Lord Asano looked on her, pity rampant in his coalish eyes. "You will come to know more than them."

San cast a look around her, taking everything in. It might have been the last time she saw this place.

She took a very deep breath, and wondered at the horrible nervousness in her throat.

"I wil go with you if it means saving my brothers and this forest," she said, hating every word. "But on one condition."

Lord Asano looked at her both in surprise and in enquiry.

"You will give me three days to farewell this place and everyone I love. I still do not understand why you require me in return for the abandoning of my home, but I _will_ find out," she retorted.

To her great chagrin, Lord Asano laughed. "You are a fiery one, are you not?" he chortled. "It will be amusing to see you bow to the ways of the civilised human."

San stared helplessly at him, anger coursing through her.

"I will never," she declared.

The horrible Lord just laughed. "I agree to your condition, Princess of Wolves. Or... well, what do you prefer to be addressed as?" he asked, though his patronising tone was not lost on San.

"You will call me San," said the young wolfgirl. "That is my name, my Lord."

"Very well. San it is, then. We will return in three days, by which time I expect you to be ready to leave. Something in your eyes makes me trust your word, so I know you will not leave this forest before you are supposed to." Lord Asano cast her one last appraising look, then called a halt to the fighting.

"Mononoke San has agreed to leave with us. We need fight no more," was all he said, and the remaining living _samurai_ ceased combat. They were gone as quickly as they had come.

San turned and ran away through the trees, feeling the leaves and branches tear at her clothing and hair. She did not stop until she came to the Forest Spirit's lake, which unlike her heart was calm and serene, bathed in the evening light. Shocked at what she had just agreed to do, she keeled over into the water, silent tears running rampant down her anguished face.

_What have I done? Mother, forgive me, forgive me..._

_o_

"How can you _know_ she will keep her word to you, my Lord?" asked one of the _samurai_, on their way back to their camp at the edge of the forest.

"She is not inclined to trifle with me," Lord Asano declared. "She will come to see reason and enjoy living with me, enjoy the comforts my wealth and power may offer her. She will see," he laughed softly and stared right through the servant standing in front of him. "She will forget about her home here. And then," a smile spread over his face, "she shall become my wife and queen."


End file.
